Selling in the wake of the Paris terrorist attacks drove the Australian sharemarket sharply lower at the open, but key technical support held at the 5000-point level on the S&P/ASX 200 index. The index fell 1.4 per cent at the open to hit a low of 4980 points before bargain hunters trimmed losses to 0.5 per cent.

Ecologist: Is it a coincidence that the terrorist outrage in Paris was committed weeks before COP21, the biggest climate conference since 2009? Perhaps, writes Oliver Tickell. But failure to reach a strong climate agreement now looks more probable. And that's an outcome that would suit ISIS - which makes $500m a year from oil sales - together with other oil producers.
Yes, it's still about the climate, very much so. But there are also compelling reasons of national and global security to reduce the world's...